


Random-Access Memory

by ShadowMeld



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Geth, Robot Sex, Robotics, Synthetic Lifeforms, Synthetic Sexuality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-15
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2017-11-14 06:38:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/512392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowMeld/pseuds/ShadowMeld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his death, Shepard desperately searches for a sign of Legion in any of the Geth Primes whenever she has to do with them. And finally, she does see similarities, kind of.  The Geth Prime is simply happy he can make her happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Response to masskink prompt.

For months now they’d been working with the geth generals and she still couldn’t help but look for Legion in every one she saw. It was stupid, she knew that. Hell, she’d been there, watched Legion sacrifice himself both for them and for his people. Was it a disservice to his memory to hope, against all odds, that some flicker of him still existed?

It was hard to explain why it seemed to bother her so much. They weren’t particularly close. After all, at the end of the day Legion was a synthetic and she was organic… but there had been something about him. He’d seemed… amusingly awkward. Sometimes she’d swear that if a machine would blush Legion would have been doing it.

She’d been staring off into space again, but was jolted into looking at the pale blue lights of the Prime General’s visual sensors. The curving mechanics of the Prime’s head canted as he seemed to focus on her, making the Commander look furtively away. God, way to be unprofessional… fucking dwelling on something like this when she should be thinking of the future. 

“Shepard Commander… Are you distressed?

“No Prime, I am fine. I apologize for my inattention.”

The tall red construct seemed to pause of a long moment. “We do not intend to offend, Commander, but we do not believe that this is truth. We perceive that you are upset at the passing of Legion, despite your awareness that his sacrifice was for the greater good.”

She didn’t know what it was about her now, but for some reason the Prime’s words simply incensed her. “Well I am sorry I can’t just consider the greater fucking good! I’m sorry that I miss my goddamned teammate! We can’t all just weigh the damned odds and reach consensus that he doesn’t fucking matter anymore. Do you fucking understand?!”

The lights on the prime brightened minutely, and the machine seemed to look furtive. “We…apologize, Shepard Commander. We did not mean this as a critique. This perhaps…did not come out how we intended it. We had reviewed the contents of the platform called Legion’s upload─”

“His memories.”

The prime paused. “Affirmative. Memory. Of late we have also spent a good deal of time in your presence. We have…liked this. We would enjoy accompanying you more often, Shepard Commander.”

She was, needless to say, speechless. The commander’s stunned gaze just stated at the massive prime waiting in endless patience for her answer. To be honest, it was the first time that she had ever really looked at him. Recently she had been around many geth, but most of them just seemed like specters passing through the ship, reminding her unkindly of the crewmate she’d lost. 

This prime looked much like others of his class, but there were minor defining features. He had stripes running down his armored form, and the lights highlighting the breadth of his chest and contour of his mechanics seemed to fluctuate in color more than others. As with others of his kind his synthesized voice was deep and vibrated slightly with his speech. 

The commander had caught him more than once leaning low to make himself not seem so large when she was around. She’d asked him why and the prime has answered that he didn’t want her to feel discomfort due to his size and proximity. She’d laughed at the time, but hadn’t thought just how strangely considerate the gesture was. He was really very… nice, if she thought about it. 

Perhaps he wasn’t Legion, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be friends with any geth again. The longer she considered it, the more she thought she ought to give the prime a chance. “Sure. I…I’d like that, Prime.”

\-----------

Her crew didn’t seem to know what to make of her twelve foot shadow. It seemed  
only EDI even had any reaction to the prime that had become her near constant accompaniment. She actually seemed oddly pleased with his presence on the ship, and had quite readily answered any questions the prime positioned while he was exploring the Normandy’s halls. 

Though what was most peculiar was the way that other geth acted with him around her. Ever since they had gained geth support in the war against the reapers, she had been meeting with more of their elites. At these meetings the prime was almost always present, and though she enjoyed his company, she’d offered to ask him to leave when other generals came to discuss strategy. What was odd was that none of them ever wanted the prime to leave, they seemed to think it perfectly normal that the massive synthetic liked to shadow her. If anything they seemed more inclined to offer support with the prime looming over her, and regarded her almost warmly, if that were possible. 

She enjoyed his accompanying her though. He wasn’t Legion, but she was finding that it didn’t bother her quite so much as she had expected. 

She’d taken to bringing the prime on some of her missions. Most certainly nothing that involved stealth, but for those that required more raw firepower than anything he was definitely ideal. This had lead to Shepard’s discovery of just how hilarious it was to see a twelve foot prime try to duck behind cover. It had been so ridiculous seeing the massive crimson war machine crouch behind a box that she’d almost fallen out of her own cover laughing at the sight. And when she’d looked at the prime the plates around his visual sensors had flared in what she would swear was mild indignation. 

Still he was undoubtedly a useful member of the team, and he was eager to be as helpful as possible. A nice change considering the lip she sometimes got from her organic teammates. 

At the moment she was on the crew deck eating the somewhat suspect offering that Alliance rations saw fit to call lunch. She poked at a jiggly bit with her spoon, grimacing a bit as she brought it to her mouth.

“Inquiry, Shepard Commander?” Shepard looked up when she heard the deep voice of the prime seated across from her, once again utterly dwarfing the Alliance chairs. It was only the wonders of modern metals that kept that thing from buckling, she was sure. 

“Yes, Prime?”

“You appear to not be enjoying your meal, it seems strange to us that you would consume it regardless.” 

It was an odd question, but as she looked at the inquisitive set of the prime’s metal muzzle and the flicker of lights, she supposed he didn’t have to deal with those sort of problems. “Well, I have to eat, and this is what’s available. If I had a Grade A steak I’d be eating it right now, but you can’t always have what you want. Sometimes you settle.”

“As you have for us with Legion gone?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Yeah, like-” Shepard stopped in mid-sentence as the words finally registered with her. “-wait…what? Prime, it’s not like that. What made you think…?”

“We do not mind Commander, we are simply pleased that we can content you.”

“Prime, you are not something I’m settling for. That’s…that’s awful.” Just the thought of great prime thinking all this time that she’d been allowing him around as a substitute for Legion turned her stomach a little. She missed Legion, she really did. He was cute in ways she couldn’t explain, and had much more to him than many would have ever given him credit for, but she was not using the prime to replace him. 

“Commander, we did not mean to imply that you were callous of us. We simply, acknowledge that we cannot fill the space left by your… friend, Legion. We are pleased that you are giving us the opportunity to make our own impression, given time.” 

\----------

 

“Shepard Commander.”

A heavy metallic stride didn’t leave much room for guessing as to who her visitor was.

“Yes?” Admittedly, the operative was only half paying attention. A contact had recently forwarded to her some unpublished technology that might greatly increase their power efficiency, but she wasn’t sure about the experimental nature of the amps. It made the commander frown as she flipped through the terminal’s pages, nodding absently at the Prime even as she started shifting things around in the documents. 

“We would very much like it if you were to give us a name. We know that humans hold distinctive names as greatly significant, we concur with its importance.”

Shepard went very still, too startled by the request to reply. “I…I don’t know what to say…” 

“This task does not require urgency. We understand that processing time on such a decision can be extended. We simply wished to submit the inquiry.”

\------------

The situation was full on F.U.B.A.R. One moment she was hacking into a Cereberus databank on some backwater planet on another murky lead from Alliance intel, and the next she was in the middle of a reaper gangbang getting fired at from all sides while the unholy howl of banshees was interrupted only by the heavy clamor of brutes wanting to break every bone in her body. She couldn’t believe it had gone downhill so fast. She was throwing biotics over the crate she was currently crouched behind, and at the very least they were doing some work against the cannibals that had her and her team pinned. 

It was not going well though. They were neck deep in trouble and drowning, and the reapers forces seemed to pour out in near endless hordes. Each felled brought two behind it, and her strength was beginning to wane.

The barreling charge of a brute sent her back from cover. Shepard swore as she rolled behind a bank of crates. The beast kept coming, but she blasted off the armor, and finally the last shots managed to put him down. From around her she could hear her team viciously working to hold their ground. She was breathing hard, and her group were determined, but that didn’t stop them from running out of thermal clips. 

Just as she’d fired another shot over the crate she was caught by a banshee’s warp. She barely had time to cower behind cover again before the clinging acid of the alien biotics consumed her. It took almost no time at all for the warp to eat through her shields, and Shepard had to bite down a scream as terrible power burned her. 

A hungry scream from far too near made her blood go cold, and the Commander went still as she turned to see the twisted form of a banshee looming not ten feet from her. Her eyes were watering with an agony that was debilitating, and Shepard realized with a cold sense of finality that she would never manage to put the banshee down before she got to her. 

Still, she raised her handcanon to the bitch before her, determined to do some damage before the perverted creature managed to rip her apart. She fired. Over and over into the disturbed blue body.

Her vision was going black with pain, as all her nerves felt raw and exposed. She could barely focus on anything now, but just before the pain took her the Commander’s world shook with a shattering boom.

\------------


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up came as a surprise, though at this point she was not sure if it was a pleasant one. She felt like she had been flayed alive and left to bake out in the sun. She sifted, and at the feeling of hard metal against her back she could only assume that she was in the Normandy’s med-bay. Comforting though that should have been, it was a bit disheartening to think this was how she felt even with the benefit of medi-gel.

“Shepard Commander, you regain consciousness. We are pleased.”

She started, her eyes opening to find the big prime seated at her bedside, once again pushing the boundaries of modern metals. The geth’s visual sensors were trained on her, the color waning and fluctuating in a harried manner and even without the benefit of human features Shepard somehow knew he was tense and relieved.

What she didn’t get was how she’d gotten there. Shepard had been pretty sure she was doomed when that banshee came baring down on her. Warp had been eating at her shields for a while by then, and if the bitch didn’t tear her apart, a violent explosion of biotics would have. “What happened, Prime? How am I…”

“Our plasma canon was able to neutralize the reaper forces. We only apologize that we did not act sooner. Shepard Commander should have been hurt. We carried you to the shuttle, but you were severely injured.”

The Prime had saved her? Shepard watched the towering construct shift just ever so under her gaze, the panels surrounding his visual sensor flaring with what she could only interpret as sincerity. But he’d been out, she’d seen it…

“We utilized some of our reserve power, our circuits were… minorly damaged, but it was enough for one last strike.”

It was only then that the Commander actually noticed the panels open on the prime. His armored shell was open in places, the circuitry singed and ulgy looking under the harsh lights of the medical arms repairing them. Good lord, he’d almost fried himself. And yet the prime seemed to be paying almost no attention to the damage to himself.

“Doesn’t that…hurt? Some of the wires are practically black…” Shepard murmured, feeling increasingly alarmed, even through the steady throb of her own pains.

Now the prime seemed to shy, leaning slightly away as if he sought to call attention away from the places his armored form was injured. “It… is not comfortable. But we still function. Shepard Commander was priority. We will be returned to full function soon enough and will be useful once again.”

Something about the tone of his words made the Commander frown. “I don’t care how useful you are, Prime. That’s not what matters to me, I just wanted to know your condition. I am concerned for your health.” Did she really come off as someone who only cared how useful her teammembers were. That this prime general could burn himself out trying to save her and seem to think she wanted to…discard him for getting hurt.

His lights brightened minutely, and she may not have noticed if she wasn’t become so accustomed to the Prime’s presence that she could pick up such subtle changes. “Thank you, Commander.”

\-------

“Aegis.”

She watched the prime pause where he was, contemplating the fish swimming idly about her tank. “Commander?”

“Your name. You asked me to think of one for you. Aegis, it’s what I came up with.” She’d been thinking a lot since she’d been saved by the large Prime in the field. The geth had almost fried himself trying to save her. He had nearly sacrificed everything, and she didn’t even have a name for him. It had begun to feel increasingly callous to refer to synthetic she spent nearly every day with simply as his model. She knew part of why she’d not wanted to name him, not wanted to make him special. After Legion’s passing, she knew she’d kept most geth at a distance, afraid that she couldn’t look at them without seeing Legion every time. It didn’t feel right, but neither was dehumanizing then in order to not get attached. The geth prime had proven he deserved better than that. 

For his part, the prime was quiet for a while, and she could tell he was examining her closely. The purring whir of mechanics was all that filled the quiet, and it was beginning to weigh on her nerves. Maybe he didn’t like the name? She’d given it some serious thought, but it still felt incredibly arrogant to decide such a thing for another sentient being like this. “If you don’t-h”

“Aegis. Reference: Greco Roman. A shield, An object for protection from hostility. We…I am agreeable to the reference. Shepard Commander.”


	4. Chapter 4

It was hard to explain, but somehow giving Aegis a name had taken down some intangible barrier between them. Even the crew seemed to notice how the prime was with her even more often than he had been before. Some had grumbled at first, but eventually everyone came to accept it. Part of it could have been their little near death experience, but even Tali wasn’t making much of a fuss anymore. 

And honestly, she enjoyed his company. He wasn’t much of a talker most days, but she got plenty enough of talking from the rest of the team, and it was nice to have a moderate voice on occasion.

Even when her shift was done and she settled somewhere to relax she found her gaze unconsciously seeking the geth out. She might be reading something amusing on a datapad and think to ping him, which she imagined he suffered kindly even though he probably he didn’t understand the joke. 

Despite what she imagined was a considerable cultural barrier she was soon starting to admit to herself that she liked the geth, really liked him, more than just as an asset or as an ally but also as a friend. Though Aegis was often quiet she found she wasn’t as disconcerted by the periods of silence as she’d been before, in fact she found it comforting when the soft whirr of mechanics was the only sound in the air, its rhythmic cadence reminding her of a cat’s resonant purr. 

He was more expressive than most gave synthetics credit for, but once she’d improved at the subtle nuances she could better discern the prime’s expressions. Of course he could have been broadcasting his emotions just to make the Commander feel more at ease, but for some reason she didn’t think it held any ill intent. 

Honestly, she didn’t know what to think of these new feelings. She was watching Aegis conversing with some visiting geth higher ups and her gaze quite suddenly alit on a new bit of detailing on the thigh and shoulder panels of the prime. There in crisp white letters was “AEGIS,” the prime’s sparkling new name written right above his model number. Shepard felt her chest go abruptly tight. He had actually had it painted on his armor.

There was heat behind her eyes and the Commander found herself shifting from foot to foot, feeling inexplicably frustrated at the outpouring of emotion at such a silly thing. Something about seeing it like that… it seemed more real than it had before. 

She must have made some sound, because she looked up and found Aegis looking at her, his panels flaring in a gesture of concern. The scrutiny in her moment of foolishness made the Commander tense and she waved him off with more briskness than was probably necessary, but she didn’t want him looming at her right now. It was clear she had some things to think about.

***

Thinking involved distance and it wasn’t easy avoiding the geth after she had spent so much time seeking out his company. She felt bad, particularly when she had to brush him off and the hulking brute stopped abruptly looking terribly confused. It made her feel oddly ashamed, like she’d kicked a puppy or something, but it was hard not to feel bad about the strange vulnerability of the disheartened dimming of Aegis’ lights.

Sitting at the over-chic desk in her Spartan quarters with a cup of disappointingly synthetic coffee Shepard found it was doing nothing to sooth the headache that was building between her eyes. She could not keep ducking him like this. The rest of the crew was beginning to notice, and she wasn’t sure he could take another pleading whirr as the prime shrank down when her eyes looked past him during break.

She just didn’t know what to do about this. With Legion their relationship had been largely professional, even companionable, but she hadn’t felt nearly as conflicted as she was about Aegis. Legion was her friend, and she missed him, but they weren’t… close. Not like this anyway. The geth sniper had been even quieter than Aegis, if that was possible, and awkward. It wasn’t a bad thing, but he hadn’t sought her out like the prime did, and he never lingered longer than what would be deemed absolutely appropriate. 

Sure Legion had pinged her challenges on various omni-tool games, which had made her laugh every time at his ludicrously high score, but Aegis liked sending her questions. Ridiculous things really. He made inquiries about human mannerisms, turns of phrase, and asked opinions on other interactions throughout his day. They were all things he could have easily asked EDI and no doubt received a more thorough and coherent answer than what Shepard had to offer. She had even checked with EDI that she and the prime were able to interface. “You’re not… fighting are you?” 

She didn’t know if synthetics had disagreements in the same way organics did, at least on a smaller scale than heretic machines and crazy reaper tech. If anything EDI seemed amused at the assertion but assured her that everything was working fine and that no, they were not in disagreement. 

It seemed he just honestly wanted to ask her instead, which wasn’t wrong, it just seemed odd that the synthetic would seek out what could be seen as a biased source of information on human interaction. Of course interaction only brought to mind again how uncomfortable this week of trying to avoid the prime had been. It was, in a word; lonely. 

On a ship full of bustling personnel and a full team of fairly close comrades she still felt bereft without the prime there standing over her. Shepard didn’t know what that said about her that she preferred the company of a synthetic to that of her organic teammates, but it just wasn’t the same.

The Commander was snapped out of her reverie by a harsh bell of the door. EDI’s voice cut through the idle burbling of the nature track in the background. “Commander, Prime Aegis would like to request an audience.” Well, she’d known avoidance wouldn’t work forever. 

It was time to cowboy up and face the music. “Send him in.”

The door opened with a smooth pneumatic hiss and she watched as Aegis stooped to enter her quarter s like so many times before. Unwittingly the sight brought a slight smile to her face. The prime always looked so ridiculous doing that.

“Shepard Commander… There had been a marked decrease in your presence within the common areas of the ship. I believe this is because my presence has been found to be less than ideal. Though I lack understanding as to what I may have done to cause distress, I would be more than willing to amend these actions-.”

As if she needed more help feeling like more of a heel. “No Aegis, you haven’t done anything wrong. I like having you around.”

“I do not… understand. Analysis of your recent behavior can only be interpreted as an aversion to my presence. Censure was not my intent, I assure you. Perhaps I misinterpreted-”

“Okay, I was avoiding you. But I wasn’t _avoiding_ you, if that makes any sense…”

The geth just stared, and Shepard let out a calming breath. “I see it doesn’t. What I mean is that I was keeping away, but that wasn’t because I didn’t want you around. I just… needed time to think, Aegis.”

“Process.”

“Yes,” Shepard nodded, glad that there seemed to be just the slightest bit less tension in the heavy bulk of stooping prime. “I just needed to process some things. It wasn’t a statement on the agreeableness of your company, I promise.”

The smooth length of the prime’s curved muzzle canted and the optics brightened just the slightest before Aegis moved a little closer. “May I inquire as to the subject under deliberation?”

“I enjoy your company, Aegis. A great deal. More than I honestly thought I would.”

There was a pause as it seemed Aegis paused to consider this, “is this concerning the platform Legion?”

“No—well, yes… kind of. It’s just I find I really like you, Aegis.”

“I find you pleasing company as well, Shepard Commander.”

And he did look happier to be in her company, lights bright and parts whirring merrily as he leaned closer within limited space. It only made it ache more to think of how obviously down the prime had looked with her avoiding him.

“Okay, yes. That’s good.” Shepard cleared her throat rather loudly, trying to shake off the awkwardness of the weirdly intimate conversation, her gaze roving over the remaining space in the cabin before she visibly forced her gaze to return back to the prime where it fell on the careful white lettering again. “So… you like your name then?”

Pneumatics gently purred as lights fluctuated softly violet. “Very much, Commander.”

***

After her minor crisis things had started shifting back to normal. Aegis shadowed her as he always did, and she stopped trying to overanalyze her interactions with the synthetic. So far the geth had proved to be invaluable allies, and there was no reason to question any of their intentions until they had proved otherwise. 

And Aegis, he was great. She could admit that. He entertained her idle chatter, and accompanied her on errands. Even now he had followed her to the mess hall to keep her company even if he didn’t actually require any sustenance.

The offerings were slim today, unappealing meat product and soup. Next mission she was definitely going to get the cook those rations he mentioned, it was hard to bitch when the low supply was partially her own damn fault. 

Perusing the selection she finally chose the soup, which was at least hot and in enough chunks that she didn’t have to bother herself over what it may possibly contain. 

Nodding to Aegis she settled down on a smaller table in the hall, smiling at the big prime in his undersized chair again before she started digging into her food. It wasn’t as bad as she had thought, and the game of holo-chess between them was a welcome distraction. Needless to say she not expecting what the prime said next.

“Do you wish to mate?”

Shepard almost swallowed her spoon and was soon coughing, her eyes watering as the scalding soup went down the wrong pipe. There was no way she had heard that right. “W-what?”

“My apologies commander, I did not mean to startle you. Humans. They enjoy mating. It is something they do with others that they like. You had mentioned that you like me.”

“I…I like you. But not… that couldn’t…work, Aegis. Even if… we’re not compatible in that way, organics and synthetics.” Not to mention that just addressing the topic made her feel like some sort of pervert.

Aegis seemed to contemplate this, and she knew the geth was coming to some sort of consensus. “We believe we possess the… hardware, for these sorts of interactions, Shepard Commander, if that is your concern.”

“….hardware?” If she wasn’t entirely sure that Aegis had almost no sense of humor, she would have thought that it was some horrible pun. Was the prime actually suggesting that he was… equipped to couple with a human woman? Why the hell would a geth even have hardware like that? They were freaking built for god’s sake. 

And then her mind went to every skeevy engineer she’d caught hunched over their omni-tool looking at Fornax and she made an immediate reassessment. Unconsciously she found her eyes dropping down to the groin of the geth’s smooth metal carapace, and though she saw nothing her cheeks began to heat as her gaze jerked back upward immediately. “That…that is just… I have no words…” 

“I had no intention of causing you distress, Shepard Commander.”

Yeah, well that ship had damn well sailed. 

The prime bowed slightly, looking distinctly abashed, if a little confused. “The subject discomforts you. That was not my intent, Commander. I will not inquire further.”

Shepard looked fixedly at the contents of her soup, trying to ignore the distinct burning in her cheeks. Roughly she cleared her throat. “So…you catch the Alliance News report last night?”


End file.
